Hundreds of people go to Peninsula High School, and each individual person has their own life that is just as complex as yours. Some might play a sport, be a part of a club, or enjoy hanging out with friends. There are endless possibilities for the groups you could be a part of in your high school. But what if you don’t feel you fit into any of these groups? You might feel isolated from the world around you. You may even feel you are the only one who doesn’t fit in, but everybody has felt this several times in their lives. If you ever feel like you don’t fit in, there is always a place you can turn to feel welcome.

On the internet, you have the opportunity to create a persona for yourself, to be someone you may not come off as in real life. I find comfort online because the people there are more welcoming, and they are the rare people that I can talk to about niche interests. There are several media sites by which people can interact online, like Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, etc. Through these sites, you can interact with people all over the world. I find comfort in this because there is little judgment to be had because they are all people like you. It is essential to have someone you feel like you connect with, even if it’s not face-to-face.

I feel when I am loneliest, I can vent to strangers online who will listen. Strangers who don’t know me for who I am, who I can be completely anonymous with and only share with them what I want to share. It doesn’t matter what they look like, their background, social status, or whatnot. I will see them as who they are: authentic. And I believe it to be quite beautiful that we can choose the boundaries we want to set.

Even though social media does have its downsides, I would argue that entirely removing it would be a mistake. With reasonable restrictions, it can be an important part of one’s life to feel like one belongs to a part of a group.